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We booked our honeymoon through a travel agent mostly because we were going to the carribean during hurricane season and wanted insurance and that was the best way I knew how to get comprehensive insurance. As a bonus, she was able to get us on a flight I couldn't find online. This is the onl time I used a travel agent and we travel frequently enough that I would have been capable of booking the trip myself.
I've also been to Japan (summer 2009) and planned the trip myself with a cheap flight found on the internet. Usually, I will put together a trip and then go to a travel agent on my lunch brea one day and see if they can beat my price. If they can, I'll book with them but generally I can get cheaper flights. I would highly recommend taking ab it of time to price out what you want to do and then seeing if they can do better for a similar plan. You may be right, travel agents may know more about temorary tourism stimulus grants as I know mine mentioned some rebates the Bahamas was offering but I imagine if they really want to get the word out you should be able to find such offers online as well.
Just suffice it to say, I am a travel agent, and in my past life i worked for expedia and was a manager. The people that work at expedia as well as most of the big online companies are not travel agents, they do not have travel agent credintials and have not been to travel agent school. The majority of them are call centers and fill in the blank systems on the computer.
If you think websites like Expedia, Travelocity & Kayak eliminate the need for a travel agent; I give you 10 reasons why you are dead wrong.
1. Niche Expertise. This is the main reason to use a travel agent. Most agents specialize. It can be for travel to specific destinations whether a city, country or region. It can involve different accommodations such as luxury villas, all inclusive resorts, B&B’s, spas or even hotels. They may cater to business travelers, seniors, students, sportsmen or honeymooners. Some deal only in cruises. Some focus on rail or bus traveling. Whatever your need, there is a travel specialist to meet it.
2. Knowledge of International Requirements. Another essential reason to use an agent. International travel involves ever changing regulations, documentation, confirmations and vaccinations. There are visas, permits & other paperwork to contend with. If you are traveling on safari with a weapon you better have all your documents in order or you may find it waiting at home for your return. Only an experienced agent can cover all your bases. There is nothing more frustrating than bureaucratic red tape, especially if you don’t know the language. In travel, your time is money. A missed business opportunity may never be recouped. If you screw up you have only yourself to blame. The pros are less likely to err & if they do, you have a better chance of getting compensation.
3. Knowledge of Options for Your Budget. Very rarely is travel just a plane ride to a location. It also involves lodging & travel within your destination—is it better to rent a car & from whom? Maybe taxis are better. Are rail or subway options faster and cheaper? Should you buy a pass and which one? What accommodations are best suited for your trip & budget. An experienced agent can work up an itinerary based on your particular needs and keep it within your budget. It’s all about options. Agents have them readily available.
4. Accommodate Your Special Needs. Unless you travel alone, there are others who must be considered. Are you traveling with the entire family or you and your wife. Are their seniors traveling, small children or physically challenged person? Each type of traveler has special needs. What about your dining preferences? Many agents who book travel to specific locations have been there themselves or have the word of mouth review from their past clients & colleagues.
5. Give Unadvertised Discounts & Upgrades. Agents are often privy to unadvertised special promotions that can save you money. Agents who work in a particular area gain discounts & upgrades they can pass on to you. Do you know that the person traveling with a senior also gets the same senior discount? Agents realize they score points with you by saving you money. Let them do it.
6. Time Savings. Yes you can look online and check dozens of different websites for airlines, seating, travel times, connections, hotel availability, activities, tours, car rentals and the accompanying reservations, deposits & payments. But why bother? Let the agent do the work. They work faster, know exactly where to look and have access to the contact people involved. An hour with a travel agent will save you ten. Guaranteed!
7. Access to Latest News. Whether it is weather, politics, or any issue which may affect your travel, agents have the scoop. They get news from direct client feedback as well as colleagues & government sources. They routinely visit the destinations they send client. An agent’s business is to know what is going on in the places they send you. I had planned a trip to a particularly exotic resort in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands but changed my plans after my travel agent told me the beach had been reduced to a 3 foot swatch by a hurricane the year before. You can’t see that in a resort brochure or website. It’s not information readily volunteered by the resort reservations staff either
8. Alert You to Future Opportunities. A good agent will advise you of upcoming travel bargains, tips and concerns via newsletter and email. Just tell an agent your plans for next year and they will make it their business to look out for deals for you.
9. Personal Attention. An invaluable benefit. Once a travel agent has worked with you, they get to know you as a person. They learn your likes & dislikes. They can suggest destinations & activities based on these. My wife & I love the Caribbean. We want the best beaches away from the crowds and resorts with gourmet food. Knowing us, our travel agent finds the perfect places. We are very rarely disappointed. Which leads me to reason 10?
10. Advocate and Problem Solver. If there are problems, they know who to call to get a resolution They can negotiate better than you since they routinely deal with the people & companies involved. Your vacation or business travel time is valuable. Why waste it and bear the aggravation to deal with a problem? Let the agent get you satisfaction. I once had a bad experience at a resort where the proprietor was absent for unexpected reason and the staff decided to take it easy resulting in awful service (cat’s away syndrome) I complained to my travel agent and she got me a full refund of the sizeable service charge. The resorts and companies that deal in the travel industry cannot afford bad press from travel agents. Bad news travels fast. Competition is fierce for the travelers’ dollar. If an agent finds a company has many complaints or is not willing to fix problems, the agent will not send them any more business. If you’re unhappy, you’ll tell your friends and the agent can lose you & them.
Overall:
Bonus! Non-Tech - Old School Crowd. Let’s not forget about all those people who simply like to do things in a more traditional way - Human to Human contact. Many of us have parents or relatives that are just not computer or tech savvy. They like to go down to their local travel agent in the mall or around the corner. These are in many cases their neighbors and friends. They crave the personal touch. They like to talk about other things like what’s new in the neighborhood, their kids’ baseball game or simply the bad or nice weather they’ve been having. This is how things were done before the internet and they will continue to be necessary for many years to come.
Travel agents are valuable professional. The Sellsius community will welcome them as members and promote them to the community (like all members). They can post their professional profiles, write tips articles and contribute to the forum. Visitors to the site will be able to search for them in the Getaways section. They can be found by their particular expertise.
While I don't think TA's are absolutely necessary, it doesn't hurt to book with one. In most cases they can get reduced rates but even if they can't, most will match the lowest rate available. They're free to the customer so I always wonder why more people don't utilize them.
We booked our HM cruise through a travel agent and it's been amazingly simple. All we had to do was pick the cruise, our category and then approve her choice of cabin and we were done. She handled everything else. She wasn't able to get us a reduced rate but what we booked was the cheapest I've been able to find online and it came with $100 onboard credit.
Let me tell ya a little story about how a TA pretty much saved my friends lives...
One of my best friends honeymooned in Jamaica a few years ago. She and her hubs booked their trip through the same TA that we're using and she handled everything. My friend and her husband get to Jamiaca and everything is fantastic. They have perfect weather up until the day they're supposed to leave and thats when things got dicey. They had no choice but to check out of the resort and make their way to the airport in hopes that the storm would pass. Well, the storm ended up being a hurricane and the airport closed. My friends headed back to the resort to see what their options were. The resort (one of the sandals ones) refused to let them check back in without paying upfront. Problem was my friends had NO money. Their families weren't able to help (still amazes me! My parents would have sold their car if they had to!) so they were stuck. My friend called the TA and she ended up paying for the extra 3 days that they had to stay with her own personal credit card. Without the TA, who knows what would have happened to my friends.
Honestly, I think travel agents are for lazy people. If you don't want to do the research yourself then a travel agent can be great since they are paid to do it for you. But with how powerful the internet is now I think they are unnecessary.
If I can talk personally on a forum or other type of site to locals and/or a whole slew of people who have been to the place I want to go, I think they are able to give me just as good and often far better information than an agent--and for free!
There are countless sites about things you need to have or remember, requirements for certain places, tips and tricks, and advice for every country and region on the globe. I've been to over a dozen different countries and have never used an agent.
@kala_way: I have to disagree. We booked with a TA and I'm hardly lazy when it comes to stuff like this. The fact of the matter is, a TA literally saved my friends lives. Without her, I don't know what would have happened to them. I know their situation was unique and hopefully that kind of thing doesn't happen very often but when we're talking Mother Nature, who knows. I certainly don't think TA's are for everyone and it's true that sometimes they don't offer the best deal but when they do, I think it's silly not to book with one. If anything you have an advocate back home if something happens.
@UpstateCait: wow, just read your full post, that is a pretty extreme situation and quite a giving TA.
I'm sure it depends somewhat on the type of vacation you're doing. Maybe cruises or tropical stuff is different. I've only ever done city hoping throughout Europe where I wanted a lot of control over what hotel I stayed in, what activities I did day to day, what trains I took when and where, etc. Maybe I'm just a control freak :)
@kala_way: Makes sense. If I was traveling how you described I probably wouldn't use a TA either.
Our travel agent was free. She did get us deals we wouldn't have known about otherwise, and we had a contact if someone would have gone wrong while in Jamaica - if something like what @UpstateCait: said would have happened. In a lot of cases, the TA may have been there themself or has had several customers stay there. Ours did - and she told us things like which day to do off-resort inclusions to avoid the Cruise crowds. Things you wouldn't know to even ask about. She knew our budget, and we ended up being almost $1000 under it. That's pretty awesome when you're planning (and paying for) a wedding.
@kala_way: I would suggest putting together your plan (without booking, just plan it all out) and go to a travel agent. See if they have any tips - (this hotel is in a bad area, this time of year is less tourist-filled). You can have control over your vacation - if you don't like something, you can ask to have it changed.
As far as the lazy part, while we were meeting with our travel agent (in Jan.) the phones were ringing off the hook because ice in Atlanta had cancelled/delayed several flys to and from Madison. All the agents were working a Saturday to help rebook all their customers and make sure they were taken care of. I know if I had been one of those stranded passengers, I would have been reaaaaaaaaaaalllly glad I had someone to do all that for me.
If I was booking a vacation to somewhere that I had zero experience with and didn't know anyone who had been there and could offer some pointers, I would consider a TA. Other than that, I think I could handle it all on my own.
We already knew exactly where we wanted to go and how much it would cost booking it ourselves, and then we called around to several travel agents to see who had the best deal. We ended up saving a couple hundred dollars more than if we would have booked it ourself.
After a little research I think we are going to go ahead without a TA. We had looked into pricing and were quite shocked at the significantly higher cost the TA quoted us versus what we could get through the touring companies on our own (almost double!!).
I am sure in some circumstances having a TA is beneficial however for our pariticular cruise we just didn't see enough benefits to excuse such an overcharging.
@Treejewel19: Especially when working with cruises, make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Same Ship/date/cabin category and even location on the ship. The prices will vary based on all these options. The cruiselines regulate the pricing for the cruises, with the only difference being less should a particular agency have group space booked, which whether they do or not you would not know about, as you the traveler are not privy to that information. I can say this... for instance a Carnival Cruise balcony 7A pricing verses the same ship/date pricing in a balcony 8A will be different pricing. WHY? Because that 7A is an obstructed view, meaning there is a lifeboat outside your room. Ocean view pricing varies as well depending on if it is a porthole, picture window and again if it is obstructed view or not.
The location on the ship will be different as well, as sometimes you may be in a room higher up on the ship, however you may be under the pool deck, or near the children's area; neither of which are ideal at all.
Another price difference will be if you are on a restricted fare... again I will go with Carnival, however this also applies to Princess and Holland America, but they have certain pricing where the deposit is non-refundable from the minute the cruise is booked. This is not ideal, although the rate is usually lower than the other promotion rates, if something happens and you have to cancel, you lose.
Another reason to go with a travel agent, is that they can keep track of pricing for you, should your cruise pricing drop between time of booking and when the final payment is made, your agent is responsible for receiving that price drop for you. I actually have a program on my computer that each time I book a client, I plug in their ship/sale date/cabin category and price, anytime the price goes down, it alerts me. Believe it or not the pricing does change quite often. I have a client now that just received their 3rd price drop in the last 6 months for their Christmas cruise this year. So far a $200 pp savings, which is great for them as they have 19 people sailing.
sorry i didn't fully read the thread so I apologize if someone said this before:
if you have american express: BOOK THROUGH AMERICAN EXPRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can do it through a relative's card too if you don't have one. They will plan your whole trip within you budget (with your feed back) and give you the BEST itinerary. Booking through Amex gave us amazing upgrades (to business class on our international flights....to a bigger room w/ a few....to free breakfasts that weren't otherwise included, etc). And it's free (with your AMEX card), and they provide amazing service if anything goes wrong.
Good luck!
i love my TA. It is not about being lazy...I mean if I am sick, I go to a Dr. not search the internet! I want an expert and I had $5000 to spend. I am not going to rely on just the web, I want to know what to expect and know that I have the best price, and someone to help me. PLUS, I work for a high tech firm and I am paid rather well for my time, so I figure, the amount of time I would have spent researching and what I would pay myself--well let's just say, it was WAY worth using a TA. AND my TA is the agent Martha Stewart says is the best! -bTW my honeymoon rocked. Oh, and in case anyone else wants to know--I used travelbyvip.com.
@clover32512: I was comparing the same cruise, same departure date, same cruiselines both balcony rooms...in other words there was no excuse for the price being over a thousand dollars different and the TA had no rational explanation either. We are talking a TA that has been in business for over 20 years!
Here is the issue I have with the whole price tracking thing. Lets say we book the cruise with the TA as this potential higher price with the hopes that she will track it and get a lower price, but she doesn't. We are then stuck with paying for a trip that is way over budget. We weren't willing to take the gamble of ending up with a honeymoon we couldn't afford.
In the end I'm sure there are many benefits to using a TA, but in our personal experience we opted to go it on our own.
Go through the travel agent. Travel agents can sometimes get deals that other people can't. They can also do great package deals. When you go in, be honest, tell them how much money you can afford to spend and what you want out of your vacation. You'll probably be surprised with what they come up with. It does not cost you anything to book through a travel agent-their commission comes from the airlines/hotels and tour companies. Their goal is to get you the best vacation possible at the best price, and hopefully, keep you as a loyal customer.
We just booked a cruise ourselves after asking each other this very same question... In the long run we decided to save the money we would have given them to do something I can do with a little researching online. The carnival site plus cruise critic and even cheap cruises have updated information about our cruise and everyone else's 24/7. I don't work and I'm online a lot so it wouldn't have made sense for us to pay someone else to plan a trip for us when I have the time.
I plan a trip to Ocean City MD every summer and we stay at the top of the boardwalk (pretty expensive stuff) but I've always done a lot of research to find thee very best deals in thee very best locations. I'll be the first to admit I spend a lot of time planning out trips though... I've had many friends come to me to plan out their trips too... I know it's tough. So if you don't have the time and you do have the money get an agent but if you can set aside a few days to look through everything carefully- save the money and give it a go.
We had the most amazing honeymoon in Greece, and I give 100% of the credit to my fabulous travel agent. She planned us a fabulous trip that went off without one single thing going wrong. Had something gone wrong, we had the names and numbers of her local counterpart at a travel agency in Greece who would have taken care of anything we needed. It allowed us to travel and enjoy our trip without having to worry about rental cars or hotels or whether or not we were going to get from point A to point B- it was just all taken care of.
Thanks for all your responses, everyone! I think I will probably go through a travel agent. If I were going to Europe or something, I most likely would not but honestly I have no idea where to start with trying to put together a trip to Japan on a limited budget without knowing which neighborhoods to go to, what a good price on any given hotel is, etc. Add to that the fact that I'm somewhat flexible with where my fiance and I would be willing/interested in going (if, say, our budget isn't enough for us to spend 12 days in Japan but would allow us to live like kings in, say, Croatia or heck! Even Hawaii), I think it would be useful to have some guidance. Neither of us are lazy, but despite other interests and gifts, we are not particularly gifted in the nitty gritty of planning (this is one area in which we are not complementary, haha). I'm curious: most of you seemed to book through free travel agents. Did any of you book through an agent that you had to pay, even a small amount?
Thanks again!!
I checked out a travel agent before I booked on my own. We are going to Italy for 2 weeks and yes, we are on a budget. He gave us a list of hotels and a price quote with and with out airfare. I went home and looked at booking those same hotels direct and seriously, $500. I couldn't justify it. I than took it one step further and checked out reviews on tripadvisor.com. The hotel he recommended in Florence had quite a number complaints of mold. And a reviewers picture showed the room in Venice to be claustrophobic, even in a picture, no thank you. Next I spent a couple weeks, checking out the top rated hotels & b&b's on tripadvisor, I read reviews, looked at pictures and searched for the nicest place that we could afford. I choose different places for 3 out of 4 hotels and I'm confident I've done well.
Before I found a travel agent who would work with us, I had contacted about 3, who laughed at me when I told them my budget. They told me flat out, they couldn't help us. As far as the one who advised us, he was nice, but I am under the impression that he was just taking a shot in the dark with the places he chose.
I think you'd be better off booking your own trip for that type of travel. Most travel agents specialize in packaged deals/resorts. That's not going to appeal to you if you are more adventurous - like us! We are backpacking through Asia for 6 months this year, with nary a travel agent in sight.
ALso, be sure and look at traditional guesthouses in Japan - they are way cheaper than hotels. Travel agents tend to not look into alternative lodging (like kick-ass hostels - they do exist!). It's like independent travel doesn't even exist on their radar.
Go to TripAdvisor and the Lonely Planet forums for Japan. That will help you. And yes, Japan is expensive enough that you could live like kings in Croatia with the budget instead (but it's totally worth it).
DOn't be intimidated by it - it isn't that hard to pull together, I swear!
@kala_way: 100% agree.
I've gone to many travel agents for various trips, but always come to the same conclusion - not cheaper and not better.
Agencies only work with certain hotels and you can't really choose from more than a few depending on the location. these hotels don't really care about your patronage since next week your agent will bring in an equally big group.
Book direct for anything and you will be more appreciated. You won't be a number form an agency.
After visiting many travel agencies and doing my own research in a honeymoon I couldn't bare to put it into an agency's hand. Do your reseach and you'll be better off. If you can't be bothered, than a travel agent is for you.
An example of this is when I went to Egypt with my now FI, yes, in hindsight i could have planned some things better, but most other aspects were perfect. My FSIl went to egypt with an agency, spent 2,000 more, and couldn't complain enough about the places she was brought to. Our highlight was our cruise and she couldn't wait to get off hers. We were even upgraded to a suite for free, i think becasue we booked direct, while everyone else booked through an agency, so it does pay.
I've done quite a bit of travel in my young life (14 countries and counting so far at age 24 - mostly in SE Asia) and have never once used a travel agent. I think they are completely unnecessary. It really doesn't take that much time and effort to research an area, read reviews on lodging and activities, and book things yourself. My trips have all been amazing and there is not one that I think a travel agent could have done any better.
ETA: Many of these trip took place while I was in college on a very meager college kid budget so I can also speak to the ease of budget travelling entirely planned on my own.
Despite all the hard work and valued education that travel agents go through I managed to do it all myself. Nothing against them but I personally can do all of the things on the top 10 reasons mentioned above.
I'm no travel virgin and have been travelling internationally and often since I was a child. I am extremetly budget and research happy when it comes to travel. I think about all travel aspects for my husband and us including car rentals, busses, hotels, park fees and hours and the works. I like to be in control of my trip from start to finish and have all the details memorized as much I can. I personally enjoy doing the research - I find it helps me enjoy the trip better knowing that I got the best deal on local hotels as well as learning things along the way. To me its just fun and I probably wouldn't do it any other way.
I don't want to say I can do their job, but I can do it all myself - for free. If you have the time and paitence you can do it too.
@crayfish: I will look into those resources, thank you!
And thanks for all of your recommendations! I was totally prepared to go to a travel agent and seem to be leaning the other way now. I'll check out the websites/resources reommended and see if I'm feeling more confident w/honeymoon planning from there :).
By using a travel agent we got some great deals! Pay for 6 stay 7 night kind of deals, she requested free upgrades (which we got) and she also got us some day type passes for activities at really competetive prices. I just felt more confident going through someone who knew what they were doing and had access to all the info, especially when we were going to an overseas country.
So, I'm going to attempt to put together an itinerary without an agent and see how that goes. To all of you bees who planned your trips without an agent, do you have any recommendations on websites/message boards/forums to check out for advice on where to stay/what to do in the Tokyo/Kyoto area in Japan (on a budget!)? Or, better yet! Have any of you travelled in Japan and have recommendations of places to stay/visit?
Thanks for all of your help!
I have never used a travel agent, ever. I've done all the research and booking myself. I dont find anything wrong with TA's I just feel more comfortable doing it myself.
@mckernae: ive never been to japan but no matter where i go i use tripadvisor for some research.
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I am curious about whether travel agents make sense for brides on a pretty strict honeymoon budget.
My fiance and I are adventuresome types, and having an awesome honeymoon is a priority for us. We aren't looking for five-star hotels (I mean, we're not opposed to them, but we don't require them either) and we're on a strict budget. Neither of us makes much money but we have saved, so even though our honeymoon won't be extravagant, we want it to be special. We're planning on going to Tokyo and Kyoto for our two-week honeymoon. Here's the clincher--we're getting married August 27! We've had an extremely busy year so our wedding and honeymoon planning has taken a backseat to everything else. Now that we're pushing forward with honeymoon planning, I find myself a little overwhelmed with planning the vacation on top of everything we have left to do with the wedding. Having a wedding later isn't an option for us, based on our work schedules.
I was wondering if any of you have gone the travel agent route (or checked it out and decided not to do it)? I'm mainly interested in whether booking through a travel agent can actually save you money. I hope I don't sound like a horrible person for saying this, but I figure that Japan might be interested in attracting some extra tourism since the devastating earthquakes in Northern Japan, and am wondering whether a travel agent might be more plugged into any hotel or airfare deals out there than we could be by just googling "hotels in Japan" and looking on Expedia.
So. Have any of you bees on limited budgets used a travel agent, or are travel agents only for the rich and/or famous? Did it make financial sense for you to use an agent, or could you have done everything that they did with a little time and internet research? Was your travel agent expensive, and if so, was the cost of paying the agent offset by any money that you were able to save by booking through him/her? Any advice/experiences/insight you can share would be much appreciated.
Thanks!